Human Centered Design Example

Human Centered Design Example: Venmo

Venmo is a terrific example of a platform that embraces human-centered design thinking.​The peer-to-peer payment experience six years ago was awful. It was like changing a 401k. Clunky. Impersonal. Awkward. Rather than building a platform that served their needs, Venmo built a platform that served their customers needs. They asked: What emotions do we want people to feel? What problems are we going to solve within it? Venmo found that paying a friend back for a dinner tab doesn’t have to be a formal experience. In real life, it can be causal, even funny.

They quickly found that their target customer audience wanted to handle payments on mobile devices; so they started with an app. They found that customers wouldn’t adopt fees, so they embraced long-term thinking, and building value, as opposed to immediate revenue. In doing so, they designed directly for their customers, and crafted a frictionless peer-to-peer experience.

Then, they went one set further. They created a signature experience.

Just like in real life, paying a friend for a bar tab was a human experience. They designed a friendly social experience that encouraged emojis and commentary for their peer-to-peer payments. No longer would it be a transaction - in many ways, it was re-living the experience that the friends shared.

Today 90% of all transactions on Venmo are now public to everyone. 75% have an emoji. It's the human experience channeled through technology.

You add this all up, and it’s a classic example of human centered design. The result isn't this isn’t fluffy design talk: In this quarter alone 6 billion dollars were transacted through Venmo. Six billion dollars. So this isn't pie-in-the-sky design talk; this is hardcore economics making businesses profitable.